I was thinking about the show the Expanse, and realized what makes it particularly depressing to me is that they've kind of got the ratio of psychopaths to "normal" people right.
Which is to say, there is roughly 2 characters that are not psychopaths. Even the "good guys" are effectively reduced to psychopathic tendencies when pressed.
Contrast this with good 'ol Star Wars: Luke, Han, Leia, Ben, Chewie - not only not psychopaths, but fighting against stereotypical psychopaths. Star Trek, no psychopaths on the Good Side (although they started to tinker with this on Next Generation, and of course the new series is... typical 21st century fare).
Go further back and what annoys me, despite it being a Good Thing, is the portrayal of People In General being Normal. I'm fairly sure in my pessimistic wise age that this was never the case. On the other hand, the lack of the Kool Kids factor of "let's show things as starkly harsh as possible" I miss greatly. Everything today is very easily compressed into a literal horror show.
Worse yet, everyone apparently enjoys that. Which I guess tells me something about "people". Real life is already harsh, depressing and oppressive; some being shielded from that I can understand would have the rubberneck-bystander urge, but the rest - alienating.
I'm tired of gothic endings. It's easy, and gratuitous. I'm tired of the comic-book end of the world cliffhanger. Tired of the gratuitous torture scenes. Ship in a bottle plots with aliens. Rehashing formulas with added blood, gore and existential dismay. Cinema art dies not in darkness but CG glare. We're in the uncanny valley of cinematic realism, while acting is still left in the Old Days of vaudeville expressionism. A crappy combination IMO.
Get off my lawn.